Cold Nights, Warm Wishes
by DemonicPiano
Summary: When 'Santa' has a literal run in with a stranger, he is surprised at what the man wishes for Christmas.


_Author's Note- Merry Christmas! If you don't celebrate that, then Happy Holidays! If there are no holidays where you are, or none close by calendar wise, then have a fabulous day!_

* * *

Being late to a holiday dinner is a minor setback, but being late to Christmas itself is on another level. In a vast world, many Santas are designated to cover certain areas to bestow families and friends with bountiful gifts. After rushing around to get presents underneath trees, they proceed to regroup and throw the largest gathering of Santas anyone has ever known well into the morning. On Christmas Day, if listening closely, one could hear the drunken singing and merry making from the party.

However, for Tino, this was a bad thing. With the gathering just a couple of hours away and over half of Scandinavia still in need of gifts, he could not the suppress the rising panic at the sight of unchecked names on his digital tablet. Lists on paper were too impractical next to modern technology.

Tino tapped the screen to tick off the houses he had visited. "Emil, yes. Lukas, yes. So and so, I do not know how to begin pronouncing that name, yes. What a naughty boy. I figured his parents would keep the microwave out of reach," he sighed. The sleigh began to dip. "I was wise not to get him another hamster this year."

It was only when street lights flew by Tino's head, he realized that his vehicle was dramatically descending. The tablet jumped out of his hands, clattering onto the floor as he scrambled for the reigns. Several cries of surprise from the bystanders in the streets were drowned out by the skis scraping across the asphalt and bouncing back up with the force.

Not bothering to look to the night sky when crossing the road, a figure shot out in front of the sleigh. Tino screamed, as a flash of dark blue collided into the front bumper. The sleigh skittered over the pedestrian for a few meters before a hard yank on the reigns brought it to a full stop.

Tino leaped out of the seat and stumbled onto the road. A head of light blond hair popped out of the pile of clothes. "Don't move! Don't move!" He begged as he skittered toward the figure. He fell onto his knees next to the man trying to shakily sit up.

A large hand patted the street and grasped a pair of now tattered glasses and brought them to the man's face. Tino reached out. "I'm so sorry! Let me drive you to the hospital or something-" He squeaked when gently smacked away.

The man rose to his knees with an arm around his midsection. He twisted around to see, more like glare, at who ran into him. Tino cradled his arm to his own chest and found himself unable to look away from the stranger's fierce aquamarine gaze. "Are you hurt? I-I mean you are moving around..."

The stranger dropped his gaze to the ground. "I'm fine," his voice came out deep, but garbled. "Just a bruise."

"Are you sure?! I'm absolutely willing to get you medical attention!"

The man shook his head and stood up.

"Oh!" Tino scrambled to his feet. "You're tall!" He uneasily laughed, half out of embarrassment, half out of fear. His eyes flickered to the small group of townspeople stopping on the sidewalks and staring. "Sorry," he mumbled again.

"You don't have t' apologize," the stranger reached up and pressed a gloved hand to a small scrape on his forehead.

"But I hurt you!" Tino exclaimed. He huffed in irritation and threw a glance back at his sleigh. "I have an idea! Wait here!" He skittered back to the festive vehicle and ripped open the glove box. "Come on, where is it?" Tino's legs kicked in the air as he leaned over the side, excavating the compartment. "Aha!" He pushed himself away from the sleigh after shutting the glove box and jogged back to the stranger.

Tino held out a small red bag tied close with a gold string. "This is Christmas Spirit Dust!" He motioned for the man to take it when he simply gawked at him. "You can wish for anything you want with it. Just blow the dust into the breeze and think _really_ hard for a present, and perhaps Santa will give it to you," he said with a giggle.

Their fingers brushed when the stranger uncertainly took the small bag. "What's this 'bout?"

"Think it as a token of an apology."

The man grunted, "Thanks."

"Uh...you're welcome," Tino uneasily smiled. "Merry Christmas."

"Hm," the stranger gave the bag a squeeze and eyed up Tino.

The bystanders began to snicker. Tino gasped as his ears grew red. "The gathering! Oh, no! I still have presents to deliver!" He started to run back to his sleigh, but he twisted around to face the stranger. "Are you going to be okay?! Either way, I hope you have a nice night! I need to go now!"

Tino dashed to his vehicle and dove into the seat. He snatched his tablet, thankfully uncracked, from the floor and grasped the reigns. The sleigh purred to life as he tossed a glance over his shoulder. The man awkwardly waved his hand side to side.

Despite the cold air, warmth filled Tino's stomach. The bystanders hollered holiday cheers and waved their hats at him. He flicked the reigns, and the sleigh pushed forward. The sounds of the vehicle jingling faded away as Tino rode off to carry out his duties as a Santa.

~BOING~

The snowy pathway leading to the festive building was trampled by many footprints. Tino took one last swig of cold, fresh air before rapping on the door. Sounds of off key singing and laughter blasted his ears when the door swung open.

"Already hitting the eggnog, Francis?" Tino forcibly laughed, pointedly looking away from the nearly nude man in front of him, save for a pair of velvety briefs.

"The party started over an hour ago. We were sick of waiting," the Frenchman chided.

"I had a little run in," Tino retorted, ducking under his arm propped against the doorway. He leaped back in delightful surprise when a stampede of men and women wearing glowing noses and cloth antlers on their heads pushed by.

A man with wildly spiked blond hair was riding a child's wagon that the reindeer people were pulling. He whooped, raising a glass of eggnog when he passed by. "Merry Christmas, Tino!"

"Be careful, Matthias!" Tino called out, but he knew it was pointless. The hoard of party goers let out a collective gasp, and the tower of gifts in the middle of the room exploded with the impact of all the bodies.

There was a strained noise of pain to Tino's side as the people ordained in reindeer costumes crawled out from the wreckage to examine their handy work. "It took Toris and I _three hours_ to set up that pyramid! Not to mention wrapping all those gifts!"

Tino let out a small chuckle. "Hello, Eduard. At least not everyone has gotten to the eggnog yet."

The other blond stuck a hand to his forehead. "No, but I am seriously considering it now. Did you see the bowl? It is so big, you could swim in it!"

"Not that I would want to!"

Both friends laughed, but Tino cut his giggles short when he heard a ringing noise. He turned to the sound that was too different than the festivities clamoring around him.

"I thought I would run into you sooner than later!" Eduard snapped his attention. "Where were you hiding?"

"I came late," Tino admitted. "I, uh, had a problem with my tablet. It had my naughty or nice list on it."

"That's why I preordered my toys online. They have mass overnight shipping now, so I do not need to go outside in the cold and deal with all those stops!"

"I'm not sure," Tino sighed dreamily. "There's something nice about the way the snow bites, and all those cookies people leave behind!"

"That's true!" Eduard agreed. He gestured to the drink table. "Are you thirsty? I know being a Santa is hard work."

Tino eyed the stand, especially the overly large vat of eggnog in the middle. "I'll pass."

A sharp blue color danced in his side vision. Tino turned his head, but could only see reds, whites, and greens. A pair of brothers that looked remarkably alike became sick on the floor, adding another unpleasant color. The surrounding partiers made a simultaneous movement away from them.

"Ve, I think that wasn't chocolate in those candies."

"What are you looking at, bastards? Never saw someone lose their dignity?!"

"...just stay away from that bowl. I think I saw Ivan dump an entire bottle of vodka in it."

Tino shook his head, facing his friend. "I'm sorry, I missed that."

Eduard sighed. "You are too distracted, more so than usual! Christmas is _your_ time to shine. You seemed so excited before everyone left the launch spot to do their delivering," he softly noted. Pushing up his glasses, Eduard smirked, "Something happened when you were out."

"Is it obvious?" Tino squeaked, his cheeks flushing.

"So are you going to tell me?"

He shrunk back. "I may have ran someone over with my sleigh."

" _You may have?"_ Eduard exclaimed.

"All right, all right! I did! I hit a guy with my vehicle!"

The people nearby them fell silent and stared. The background music still carried on as Tino pulled down his Santa hat over his reddening ears. Some began to whisper amongst each other, while others who had sleigh accidents in the past giggled and resumed dancing.

Eduard dropped his voice. "It wasn't a young kid, right?" He gasped, "Is he dead?!"

"No, no, no." How Tino wanted to hide at that moment! "It was a man...a really tall, fierce looking man, but none less, I think I only managed to give him a scratch on his face."

"Did he call the cops?"

"Fortunately, no. He was a bit...stunned? If that is the right word." Another jangle danced in Tino's head. He huffed, "Do you hear that?!"

Eduard tipped his head. "You mean someone replaying _Jingle Bell Rock_ for the fifth time in a row?"

"Never mind," Tino mumbled. His gaze trailed to the door. The party hall was crowded and warm. Too warm. "I think I need to go..."

"Wait, what? You're leaving?" Eduard panicky looked around. "But Tino! I don't have anybody else to talk to!"

"I'll see you later, okay?" The other blond held up a hand and started to back up.

Eduard caught the distant look in his friend's eyes, sighing in defeat. "If you say so. Be careful!" He shouted as Tino was lost in the sea of Santas.

The hollers and awful, drunken singing made Tino's head throb as he ungraciously pushed, and was pushed by them. He had a strong stare on the entrance, feeling a pulling sensation growing as he neared it. A wandering hand groped his rear, making Tino yelp and give one final shove toward the door.

The cold air welcomed him from the mass of heated bodies. The party sounds muffled once the door shut behind Tino, and was replaced by his boots crunching on the frozen ground. His pace picked up to the sleigh when the jingling pitifully rung out, as if it could no more.

As if in a trance, Tino leaped over the side of his vehicle and plopped in the seat. Within moments, he soared into the midnight sky.

~BOING~

Glimpses of glitter floating in the air led Tino to an unfamiliar house. He drew the sleigh to a slow crawl mid-air as he looked around for anything remarkable. A window on the second floor facing the backyard was open. Tino thought of it as odd, since it was not the warmest of nights.

Slowly descending the sleigh, he positioned the driver's seat next to the window. Much to his relief, it was not a bathroom he peered into, but a bedroom. The window sill had golden specks rolling off and into the teasing breeze. The moonlight casted his silhouette onto the nearest wall with the shadows of tree branches as he ran a finger through the diffusing pile of confetti.

A figure's shadow fell onto him. Tino gasped and fell back into the sleigh's seat with an unmanly scream. The stranger settled against the window sill. "Are y' all right?"

Tino scrambled to a sitting position, fixing his hat. "Y-yes! I should be asking you that! I didn't break anything, did I?"

"Just a bruise. It's nothin'. Do y' want to see it?"

It may have been the moonlight dying his hair silver, or the small smile complimenting his handsome features, the man seemed more docile than he was earlier on the street. Tino kneeled on the seat to match his height. "Um, what was that?"

"I was just jokin'," he hung his head. "Didn't think y' would come."

"Surprise!" Tino uneasily laughed. "There was so many houses to deliver to, and I thought I would _never_ get them done. Then, I went to this crazy party, and almost everyone was drunk on eggnog by the time I got there. I'm kind of glad to be out here! It was way too loud in there."

The man was steadily gawking at him.

Tino slapped a hand to his mouth. "Oh, no! I'm the loud one now, and you probably have housemates, and here I am, blabbering away about stupid things!"

"It's not stoopid."

"I'll just get you your present and I can get on my way so I don't bother you anymore. It is really late. First I run you over, and now I'm keeping you from your bed. Gosh, I'm such an awful person-"

The man's shoulder's were shaking. He took a deep breath and picked up his head, exposing his flushed cheeks. "When I think of Santa, I imag'n a fat ol' man. 'Stead I get a cute boy."

"I'm a grown man!" Tino dissented. His arm wound around his stomach. "B-besides, clothes can hide a lot."

"So is yer name Santa Claus?"

"No!" Tino rolled his eyes. "Next you'll be asking me if I want milk and cookies!"

"Do y' want some?"

Tino hesitated, not willing to give up the opportunity for food. "I have been eating those all night, so I'll pass."

"Hm."

"S-so you never told me your name."

The man opened his mouth, but clamped it shut soon after. A sly smirk rose to his face. "You can call m' Missus Claus."

Tino stared at him in shock.

"I'm just kiddin'," he announced grimly. "Name's Berwald."

"Oh? Oh! Mine's Tino. You know, Berwald, that's how you get on the naughty list!"

"I wouldn't mind."

Tino jabbed his chest with a gloved finger. "You are more mischievous than you look! I might have to give you a lump of coal for your present!"

"Do y' mean it?"

Tino's smile fell. "No, of course not! Did you...did you get _anything_ for Christmas?"

Berwald shook his head. "I live alone."

"No family? No friends? Coworkers?!"

Another head shake. Berwald gripped the window sill.

"There are many people alone on Christmas," Tino announced sadly. He carefully placed his smaller hands on top of Berwald's. "However, if I can help somebody, even just one person, then that would be like my very own Christmas present."

"Do y' want t' come inside?" Berwald blurted. He winced and awkwardly added, "It's cold."

Tino dramatically scoffed. "You mistake me for a man that casually goes into a stranger's house."

"You mistake m' for bein' a strang'r that casu'ly invites a man in his house," Berwald lightly retorted.

"This is what you wanted, isn't it?" Tino gave his hands a squeeze. "Someone to talk to. Don't look so guilty, Berwald. I think it is a lovely gift."

After a breathless moment of gazing at one another, Berwald spouted, "Are y' sure on the cookies an' milk?"

Tino giggled, "Make into a hot chocolate, and we got ourselves a deal."

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( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 _A.N- My mother helped me come up with this story's title._


End file.
